Narrowing down color options for a new 330i with ZHP. Current 330i (with sport) is black. Beautiful, but too hard to keep clean.

Bruce128iC

01-09-2004, 05:32 PM

I think Silver stays clean for a very long time. That or white. :)

mquetel

01-09-2004, 05:35 PM

NOT mystic blue. :eek:

I'd bet silver

man02195

01-09-2004, 05:40 PM

StahlGrau or Steel Gray or Silver Gray

jw

01-09-2004, 05:41 PM

steel blue

The Roadstergal

01-09-2004, 05:44 PM

Of your choices, dark grey.

White actually works well to conceal dirt - as long as the dirt is fairly uniform, it doesn't look dirty. Once you touch it, it's all gone.

Mr. The Edge

01-09-2004, 06:32 PM

all colors attract the same amount of dirt onto them--no color repels dirt better than any other, AFAIK.

TD

01-09-2004, 06:47 PM

As a broad rule, the colors that don't show dirt as much also don't look nearly as good when clean. Blah colors like white and silver hide dirt. Sharp darker blues and greys (and, of course, black) show dirty readily but look great clean.

The Roadstergal

01-09-2004, 06:59 PM

all colors attract the same amount of dirt onto them--no color repels dirt better than any other, AFAIK.

What color stays clean looking longest?

The same amount of dirt looks cleaner or dirtier on differently colored cars. ;)

jeff330i

01-09-2004, 06:59 PM

i have titanium metallic and i've washed it once in the past 9 months. Looks pretty clean to me still, but i'm not obsessive about having a shiny car.

PhilH

01-09-2004, 08:00 PM

My car is steel gray and my wife's Passat is silver. I can tell you that although both are great at hiding dirt, the silver is better. If it doesn't rain much, her car can go a month and look virtually unchanged.

jw

01-09-2004, 08:08 PM

all colors attract the same amount of dirt onto them--no color repels dirt better than any other, AFAIK.
Yeah, but this one goes to eleven! :D

detour54

01-09-2004, 08:44 PM

A lot of people have said it already...Metallic Silver hands down. IMO, it hides dirt the longest. Not to mention, it's the safest color on the road:

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994504

AB

01-09-2004, 08:50 PM

Alpine white

AB

01-09-2004, 09:05 PM

Is that really true? I would think something with a little bit of texture and color would hellp. TiSilver, or even steel blue.

I think it's true. My 330i is Alpine White, and it takes A LOT to make it look dirty.

jw

01-09-2004, 09:07 PM

I think it's true. My 330i is Alpine White, and it takes A LOT to make it look dirty.
I've owned one white car in the past and swore it off. It's show dirt much too easily imo.

HFPST5

01-09-2004, 09:40 PM

Get a black car.

rickhuizinga

01-09-2004, 09:53 PM

Silver Grey lasts a long time before a wash is needed

Adam12Hicks

01-10-2004, 05:11 AM

My M Coupe in Alpine White was always clean (of course it was also too small to gather any dirt!) But it was so easy to spot clean with Quick Detailer, etc that I pretty much ALWAYS kept it spotless.

Now I have Sapphire Black AND Jet Black 3's and they are pains in the royal A$$.

Adam

:bigpimp:

Alex Baumann

01-10-2004, 06:25 AM

white or silver

GalBimmer

01-10-2004, 06:34 AM

Yeah, but this one goes to eleven! :D
:rofl: :thumbup:

F1Crazy

01-10-2004, 08:51 AM

Steel Gray is not hiding dirt that well, silver is the winner here, hands down.

elbert

01-10-2004, 08:54 AM

Steel Gray is not hiding dirt that well, silver is the winner here, hands down.
Agreed, steel gray is too dark, especially if they salt the roads where you live.

ObD

01-10-2004, 09:55 AM

Silver :bigpimp:

mscoins

01-10-2004, 10:04 AM

Of your choices, silver would look clean longer.

numbersguy

01-10-2004, 10:17 AM

Steel gray was the only dark gray offered but it was discontinued for 2004. I would have ordered it on my car but I got silver gray instead.

Ti silver is the best at hiding dirt and silver gray is the next best. Imola red will be labor intensive not only to keep clean but also to control swirl and scuff marks.

White is a funny color. It will hide dust for months but will show any amount of dirt immediately. It's great if you never drive on a dirt driveway or through a mud puddle.

bbkat

01-10-2004, 11:42 AM

Of your choices, silver would look clean longer.

I went with silver gray rather than my first choice of orient blue because I know how lazy I am in the detail dept.

No the BMW does not get that treatment, but the pick-up is the everything work-play-whatever vehicle.

Silver gets my vote :thumbup:

Tiefseeblau F10

01-10-2004, 12:31 PM

Silver has to be the "cleanest" color. I have steel blue and it dosent show much dirt. Somtimes I wash my car once a month since that color hides the dirt real well.

Elwood

01-10-2004, 05:43 PM

My old car was silver, and you never knew it was dirty untill you cleaned it :thumbup:

White might hide dirt better but IMHO when it IS dirty it looks absolutely horrible.

I was afraid of the maintenance on Mystic but still HAD TO HAVE the color. So far I've been impressed at how well it holds up.

cruztopless

01-10-2004, 07:30 PM

I too have had a white car and the silver gray beats it hands down in not showing dirt as quickly.

mjames

01-10-2004, 09:12 PM

I got Titantium Silver mainly because it is easier to keep clean. :D But I confess, I don't know a lot about dirty because I always dry mine off after it rains. ;) In about four months, I've washed my car twice (due to a 10-hour road trip). My mom drives a white MB ML320 and it shows a lot of dirt ... I can't believe white would be in this discussion.

suzer

01-11-2004, 03:21 PM

My X5 is Ti Silver. I bought it that color because I thought it looked great, and I've been really happy with how it hides the dirt. My husband (he's the one with the upcoming car color choice) has noticed the difference in how the cars look, no matter how dirty they actually are.

So the next question is.... would it be too dorky to have have two BMWs in the same color, if they were different models (one X5, one 330i). Don't worry - we'll do whatever we want - the neighbors already roll their eyes at us, and it isn't just because we take such pains to take care of the cars. I'm just wondering what others here think.

TD

01-11-2004, 03:34 PM

My X5 is Ti Silver. I bought it that color because I thought it looked great, and I've been really happy with how it hides the dirt. My husband (he's the one with the upcoming car color choice) has noticed the difference in how the cars look, no matter how dirty they actually are.

So the next question is.... would it be too dorky to have have two BMWs in the same color, if they were different models (one X5, one 330i). Don't worry - we'll do whatever we want - the neighbors already roll their eyes at us, and it isn't just because we take such pains to take care of the cars. I'm just wondering what others here think.

I'm in charge of keeping clean one silver, one sterling grey and one black cars... In all seriousness, I have to wash them all with the same frequency and still none of them really looks clean for more than one day. And I also agree with banc8004, quite often it's the wheels, i.e. brake dust, that make me wash the car, not the body.

The only (but significant) difference is that silver one can take automatic car washes and not show any swirl-marks. The other two only get hand-washes by yours truly :tsk:

toddkageals

01-11-2004, 05:58 PM

I had owned Red and Black cars in the past, both were a pain to keep clean. I purchased a titanium silver 328i 6 months ago and have been astonished at how well it hides the dirt. It's also fantastic at hiding swirls, scratches and chips once they have been touched up. IMO, the Titanium Silver also looks great when clean. I also agree with the wheel comments above. In fact, I've been known to wash the wheels and skip the car because the silver hides dirt so well :) .

Todd

FUN2DRV

01-12-2004, 02:03 PM

Definitely SILVER. I've had a red and a black car before my silver BMW and this one looks pretty clean most of the time. It specially hides the winter grime pretty good. I don't use a car wash, so sometimes I have to drive a dirty car for a while waiting for the temperature to go up.

Matthew330Ci

01-12-2004, 10:37 PM

Silver as others have mentioned.

I had a black car and I'll never own a black car again ever. (heat buildup and gets dirty easily) I do agree it looks great after you wash it...... for about 2 minutes before it gets dirty.

yamato

01-13-2004, 10:06 AM

I had a white car and now I have a TiAg. They both look clean for a long time, especially looking at it from a distance at night! TiAg is marginally better.

But I must say this is not necessary a good thing as it tends to make someone not to wash it until the dirt is visible, thinking the paint is clean, and hence pollutants have a longer time sit there to damage the paint.